Lord Min (Menew, Amsu) is one of the ancient Egyptian gods
worshiped from predynastic times. The earliest forms of God
Min - his fetish - was of a barbed arrow or a thunderbolt.
(The strange arrow, over time, became the first hieroglyph,
the one above the standard, in his name) A Gerzean palette
known as the El Amrah Palette also had a second name, the Min
Palette, because it had the symbol of our Fertility God Min on
it. Unlike in the hieroglyph, this looks more like a
double-ended arrow on a hook. Another piece from El Amrah,
near Abtu (Abydos) was an ivory statuette of a man that stood
with his legs together, his arms at his sides and an erect
penis. This, too, was another early representation of God Min.
The predynastic ruler, the Scorpion King, was believed to have
worshiped both Lord Min and LordSet.

Gebtu (Koptos) was Lord Min's cult centre from the earliest
times. Later, he was associated with Akhmim (Panopolis). Lord
Min was always a God of Fertility and Sexuality. He was shown
as a human male with an erect penis. In ancient Egyptian times,
he was usually an ithyphallic bearded mummiform man, standing
with both legs together, an arm raised holding his symbol or a
flail and wearing the same low crown with twin plumes as Amen.
(The way he holds his flail might be symbolic of sexual
intercourse - the flail forms the V while his upraised forearm
seems to thrust inside the V.) The ancient Egyptian paintings
and reliefs on tomb walls and temples didn't show Lord Min's
other arm, but the statues of God Min show him with his hand
encircling the base of his penis.

During New Kingdom times he was sometimes shown as a white
bull, an animal sacred to him. "Bull of the Great Phallus, You
are the Great Male, the owner of all females. The Bull who is
unites with those of the sweet love, of beautiful face and of
painted eyes, Victorious sovereign among the Gods who inspires
fear in the Ennead. The Goddesses are glad, seeing your
perfection." -- Hymn to Min. He was associated with the
Egyptian cos lettuce, an aphrodisiac to the ancient Egyptians
because the lettuce was tall, straight and secreted a milky
substance when pressed! (This was also a favourite food of Lord
Set.) Lord Min was often shown standing before offering tables,
covered with heads of lettuce. The Lord Min, Fertility God was
associated both with Lord Horus the Elder (Min-Horus) in the
Middle Kingdom and with Lord Amen (Amen-Min) in New Kingdom
times to show the creative force of both Gods.

At times, even some Goddesses have been shown with the body of
Min! The Goddess Sekhmet as the Eye of Ra, for instance,
showing that Lord Min also has a destructive side, rather than
just creative. (There are some indications that there was a
ritual in the ancient Egyptian military for ensuring the
subjugation of prisoners - as in the story of Lord Set and
Lord Horus - it involved 'impregnating' (and so emasculating)
the prisoner, and so the erect state of the penis could relate
to victory over the enemy.)

The flail was often used to show the Pharaoh's supremacy over
his enemies, and was therefor linked to both power and
destruction. There was also a composite deity called
"Mut-Isis-Nekhbet, the Great Mother and Lady" who was shown as
a winged Goddess with leonine feet and three heads - a lion
head wearing Lord Min's headdress, a woman's head wearing the
double crown of ancient Egypt and a vulture's head wearing the
red crown of Lower Egypt. Both of these Goddesses were shown
with an erect penis. Lord Min wasn't just a Fertility God,
such as Lord Hapi or Lord Osiris, who only presided over the
fields - he was also a God of male fertility who could give the
Pharaoh (and other men) the power to father a child.

He also presided over the sed (jubilee) festival of the pharaoh
(where the pharaoh had to run around a course set by the
Priests, carrying different objects), symbolically rejuvenating
the Pharaoh to give him long life, and the fertility of his
youth. In representations of one of the important Lord Min
festivals, the Pharaoh was shown hoeing the ground and watering
the fields while Lord Min looked on. At the Lord Min festival
held at the beginning of the harvest season, the Pharaoh was
seen ceremonially reaping the grain ... When he begot his heir
(ritually at the same festival) the Pharaoh was again
identified with Lord Min.

As with Lord Osiris, Lord Min was an Agricultural God. At
Medinet Habu, Ramses III is shown scything a sheaf of wheat for
the Festival of Lord Min. There are also scenes of Pharaohs
ceremonially hoeing the ground and watering the fields under
the supervision of Lord Min. It is interesting to note that a
virgin was poetically referred to as an 'unplowed field'. He
was also a God of the Eastern Desert, and it has been suggested
that the description in the Pyramid Texts - 'the one who raises
his arm in the east' - is actually talking about Lord Min.

With his association with the East, Lord Min is a God who
offers protection to travellers and traders - the Caravan Route
went through Gebtu and headed out East to the Red Sea. At Wadi
Hammamat (on the trade route), prayers and thanks to God Min
were found. Lord Min was also worshiped by the men who worked
the mines and the men who quarried the stone at Hammamat. At
this particular Wadi, Lord Min was given the title "Min, the
Male of the Mountain", a title with the word 'male' being
similar to the hieroglyph for 'foremost'.

Mentuhotep IV set out on an expedition to Hammamat: "Year Two,
second month of the inundation, day 15 of the reign of Horus,
lord of the two lands, two ladies lord of two lands, divine of
gold, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt Nebtawyra, son of Ra,
Mentuhotep, living forever. His majesty decreed the erecting
of this decree for his father Min - Lord of the Foreign Lands,
in this Mountain, the Noble One, the Primeval God Foremost of
Place in the Land of the Horizon Dwellers, the Palace of the
God, to Endow with Life the Divine Nest of Horus with which
this God (Min) is Content, his Pure Place of Enjoyment which
has Authority over the Uplands and God's Land - in order that
his Ka be content."

"My majesty caused the Prince - the Overseer of the City, the
Vizier, the Overseer of the Royal Constructions - his Trustee
Amenemnhat, to go forth with an army of 10000 men from the
southern nomes of Upper Egypt, the foremost ones of the Theban
nomes, to bring me excellent rich pure blocks, which are in
this mountain whose excellence Lord Min made, to be a
sarcophagus, a remembrance of eternity and to be monuments in
the temple of Upper Egypt, being one whom the Pharaoh who is
upon the Two Lands sent to bring him his wishes from the hill
countries of his father, Lord Min." He made it as his
monuments for his father, Lord Min of Gebtu, Lord of the Hill
Countries, who is upon the Chieftain of the Bowmen, so that he
might achieve of "state of given life". He who lives like Lord
Ra, eternally."

Gebtu was a cult centre for both Lord Min and Lady Isis, and
in this city, Lord Min became the husband of Goddess Isis and
father of Lord Horus because of his powers of fertility. In
later periods he was possibly placed in a triad to the Syrian
Love Goddess Qedeshet (Kadesh, Qadesh, Qetesh, Qudshu) and the
Syrian God of War and Thunder, Reshef (Reshep, Reshpu). It was
likely that Lord Min was placed with these two deities from the
east of ancient Egypt because he was both God of the Eastern
Desert and Lord of Foreign Lands. "Min, Lord of the
Processions, God of the High Plumes, Son of Osiris and Isis,
Venerated in Ipu, Gebtu's Horus of the Strong Arm." -- Hymn to
Min.

Despite being a God of the desert, Lord Min was still a
Fertility God, and rather than being painted red (such as the
Desert God, Lord Set), he was painted black to represent the
fertile land along the Nile. Lord Min was also a Moon God.
Lunar Gods tended also to be Gods relating to Moisture and thus
of Fertility. As a Lunar deity Lord Min was sometimes given the
title "Protector of the Moon". In this capacity, he was related
to the ancient Egyptian calendar - the last day of the lunar
month was consecrated to him, and the day was known as "The
Exit of Lord Min".